Steve Wozniak: Apple should release an Android device

Steve Wozniak is known throughout the world as a huge nerd, technological guru, and probably the “friendlier face” of Apple. While a lover of all things technology, he mostly concentrates his effort and time on the company that he helped co-found with Steve Jobs. However, recently in an interview with Wired, he gave his former company a little bit of advice that seemed to be contrary to Apple beliefs: release an Android device.

While the news might rustle some jimmies, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Wozniak notes that Apple should concentrate on developing a line of smartphones with Android in conjunction with continuing to pursue and develop iOS. According to him, people are very fond of the style and manufacturer of Apple phones compared to existing Android and Apple could easily play in two markets at once.

There’s nothing that would keep Apple out of the Android market as a secondary phone market

Steve Wozniak

All this is theoretically possible, if Apple were to ever consider entering into the Android market. Since Android is open source, anyone is free to adopt and develop using the environment. As such, Apple could potentially create their own Android skin, much like Samsung has done with Touchwiz and HTC has done with Sense. Or, they could head in the “forked” Android direction, much like what Amazon has done with their Kindle line.

While all this is possible, the final say will come down to Apple and the company is notorious of doing the opposite of what critics or its own fans want. In Wozniak’s own words: “I think Apple is superior at being able to say no.” As much as it would make sense for Apple to try and venture into the Android world, one of their biggest assets is their handhold on iOS.

So, if Apple were to jump aboard the Android market with an iPhone styled device, would it interest you?

From all the way over on Vancouver Island, Sterling Keys started off his smartphone adventure with an HTC S710 equipped with Windows Mobile and knew there had to be something better. Over the next few years, and countless different operating systems, he has finally found his home on Android.

4 comments

I wouldn't swap a Nexus 5 to an iPhone even if the iPhone would have the same Android version. I don't like to hold metal things, are cold and not nice to touch. The rubberized back of N5 is the same like the cover I have on my S3. It is nice to touch and hold, it's not cold, doesn't slip and doesn't need a cover.

I don't really believe each app in Apple App Store is checked by a human, but if it is it's really useless. Apple App Store hasn't got less crap than Android App Store has.I used iPhone 4 for more than a year and now I have an iPad Air and I don't get less crashed apps than I get on Galaxy S3 and Nexus 7 (both 1 and 2). Thinking again I'd swear less apps crash on N7 than on iPad Air, although I use N7 at least twice as much than the iPad. Even Apple apps crash, like iTunes and Mail.The only difference is that in iOs there's no notification when an app crashed it is just closed, whereas in Android you get that report dialog.

I talked this over with a former classmate, back april 2013.He was a complete apple fanboy, and I am a tech-fan.He actually agreed on this (to my surprise):

A unix based mobile os,and not Linux wich android are based on.The same safety model as iOs, the sandbox model.You know. The model were apple decides what is and what is not allowed to download from appstore. (they check apps manually wich android lacks)Into that, you poure androids features, wich gives you more than iOs does.You take the structure from iOs, regarding useability.And you make the "unknown sources" avaliable, yet with a big apple warning, that if you do, then you could let viruses and spyware into the system.And finally, you make this new os, run iOs, Android and Linux apps at the same time.

Would that not be a great basis, for a new mobile os from apple?It would shure be a patchwork of different closed and open sourche codes.Yet it would give us all something much, much greater.You know... With that built quality they make, it would be a seller.